Comparatively Speaking, DeSean Is Happy
DeSean Jackson said he's happy with his new five-year, $47 million contract, even if his new deal includes less guaranteed money than other wide receivers, including Pierre Garcon, Vincent Jackson and Marques Colston received this week.
Just $15 million of Jackson's contract is guaranteed, compared to Vincent Jackson's $26 million, Garcon's $20.5 million and Colston's $19 million.
"As a player, you always compare deals and see what other players are making," Jackson said. "But I felt good with what was on the table and I didn't want to pass that up. The relationship I have here with the Eagles, I would rather take that opportunity than go anywhere else.
"Regardless of what money I could have got (somewhere else) or how much more, I'm not a greedy guy. I feel good where I'm at here. I still have ways in my contract of making whatever I'm worth in that contract. As long as I'm able to go out there and play at the level I know I'm capable of playing at, the sky's the limit on the money."
Jackson has $4 million worth of escalators in his contract. But to get all of them, he would have to make the Pro Bowl the next four seasons, notch 1,300 yards and 10 touchdown catches each year and help the Eagles win four Super Bowls.
The man who negotiated Jackson's new contract, agent Drew Rosenhaus, wasn't at Thursday's press conference.
"It's a good feeling by myself to just hear all the negativity toward myself for whatever reason," Jackson said. "It just drives me to go out there and keep doing the things that I've been doing."
Asked if signing the new deal was a relief, Jackson said, "It's not necessarily relief. It's a blessed feeling, getting what you're worth, getting what you deserve.
"You can't be satisfied. You still have to go out there and play at a high level. That's something I'm willing to do. That's something I live to do. I feel I was born for that stage. I've been in big games all my life.
"I'm going to continue to go out there and play football with a passion and just continue to do what I've been doing the past 2-3 years."
Jackson thanked Eagles head coach Andy Reid for standing by him. The wideout has acknowledged his contract situation affected his attitude and the way he played last season. Reid suspended him for a game after he missed a team meeting and benched him in the fourth quarter of another game. But the coach praised Jackson at season's end for playing hard the last five or six games.
"We have an honest relationship," Jackson said. "He doesn't beat around the bush. He gets straight to the point. Regardless of everything he heard in college (about me), he ignored the negativity and gave me the opportunity to prove everything wrong. I basically came in and did that. He just wanted me to come in and play hard. That's what he cherishes the most. As a player, I can accept that.
"The past year, the things that have been going on, he could've turned his back and gone away."